In the art of microcircuit cards, also known as microchip cards, the size and shape of the cards are generally defined by standards in widespread use in the industry. There are known in the art in particular the ID-000 format used mainly for mobile telephone operator subscriber identification cards, known as SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) cards or plug-in SIM cards in the case of GSM, CDMA and TDMA telephones or USIM (Universal Subscriber Identification Module) cards and the ID-1 format (derived from the ISO standard 7810) used for bank cards and credit cards, for example.
In theory the fabrication and logistical costs of an ID-000 format card are significantly lower than those of an ID-1 format card, in particular because of economies in terms of the plastic material, the area to be printed and the transportation and storage volume and weight. However, in the case of ID-1 format cards, card fabrication and personalization procedures are a mature technology utilizing reliable machines.
This is one reason why, in the mobile telephone art in particular, cards are sold in the form of ID-000 format microcircuit cards precut into an ID-1 format card body. The user can therefore use his card in a reader adapted to read the ID-1 format or detach the ID-000 format microcircuit card from the ID-1 format card body, for example before inserting it into his mobile telephone. It is therefore increasingly the case that the ID-1 format card body is in practice merely a simple temporary support for the SIM card.
When the user detaches his SIM card from its support, the latter is generally thrown away, unless there is provision for the SIM card to be re-integrated into it, although this latter situation is of little significance in practice. Thus, although this makes it possible to continue to obtain the benefit of the technology developed for ID-1 format cards, most SIM cards are currently sold in an ID-1 format support that is almost immediately discarded by the user.
An object of the invention is to overcome this drawback and to increase the usefulness of the support.